My latest re-yeast

[knipknup]

I racked a brew from primary to secondary in the midst of brewing another batch. After the first was in the secondary, I poured half the yeast cake/trub into a 2qt pitcher and added cool water, swirled it and let it settle. Then I poured half this to another 2qt pitcher, added cool water and swirled again. I repeated this until I had a fairly trub free solution. I pitched this to the batch I was brewing. It was the most vigorous fermentation I have had yet.

I read in another post about siphoning a new brew right on top of the old yeast cake.

Which method is best?

 

[Yuri_Rage]

It depends on how much trub you have, how many times you've used the yeast, and how soon you can re-pitch.

If it's a pretty clean beer (without fruit, pumpkin, tons of hops, or other very trub-heavy adjunct), and you can immediately put fresh wort on it, just pitch right on the cake.

If you need to wait a while (like more than a few hours) before pitching again, or the yeast needs to be "cleaner" than what you have in the fermenter, use the washing technique.

 

[Blender]

A lot of brewers also brew a smaller beer and use the yeast cake from that for a high gravity beer. I mostly clean mine because I usually don't rack and brew the same day.

 

[knipknup]

How long will it last? I cleaned a batch, put the solution in a mason jar that I vacuum sealed and put in the fridge, but it has been about 2 months so I am hesitant to use it.

 

[digdan]

I just did a reyeast today. I simply tossed the cooled wort onto the old yeastbed of the previous beer and aerated.

Its only been 5 hours and its probably going to need a blowoff hose soon.

 

[Kevin K]

I did what digdan did recently, and it was spewing krausen through the airlock within two hours. Wow!

 

[knipknup]

Speaking of aeration, I typically pour my cooled wart back and forth from my brew kettle to bucket about five times. It is really frothy when finished. What are some better methods?

 

[t-dogg]

I put my cooled wort into my sanitized bottling bucket and run it through the spigot into the carboy

 

[teu1003]

I read in another post about siphoning a new brew right on top of the old yeast cake.

Which method is best?[/QUOTE]

I just used an existing yeast cake for the first time Sunday. I racked the beer off the cake (it was wyeast 1007) and swirled the cake like crazy. I aerated the wort well with a stone and pure o2 and let it "waterfall" onto the old yeast. This was about 11 am ... by 3 pm, there was already VERY active fermentation and by monday morning the krausen nearly reached the neck of the carboy. I checked it this morning ... the krausen was down a little and the bubbling had stopped.

What economy! I get two brews from one yeast and i only have to clean the carboy once!

 

[8string]

A lot of brewers also brew a smaller beer and use the yeast cake from that for a high gravity beer.

I did the opposite by dumping a 1.052 OG onto a yeast cake from a 1.090 OG beer.  It was fermenting hard within an hour and went for about 36 hours, slowed down, and was finished (no bubbles in airlock) in less than 48 hours.  I racked after 5 days and it was already down to 1.009.  

Is there any harm in such a quick fermentation?  also does that mean I could bottle sooner since it is already lower than the target final gravity?  then let it condition more in the bottle?

 

[david_42]

Every time I've pitched on the cake, I've been going from small to big. If the styles are compatible, I don't see any problem going the other way. I would probably wash the yeast and only use part of it. My big beers tend to be hoppy & the small ones less so.

Fast ferments are nice, but I have had problems with overheating in the summer.

 

[Evan!]

I racked off of my cassis wit, replaced the bung & airlock, and left it for a whole week. Racked my hefe on top of it, and I had activity within 45 minutes. And the hefe turned out great! As long as it's not too warm, I wouldn't worry about letting your yeast cake sit for a few days.

 

[jma99]

Wow!
I did this today! (Had the day off)
Racked a rasberry wheat into the secondary, then poured a dark wheat onto the cake. The PACMAN cake took off in well less than an hour!

Never had one start so fast before!

 

[knipknup]

I racked a big beer onto my primary cake today and it was bubbling at 1 second intervals with major churning after 1 hour. That is the quickest I have ever heard of. I plan to do a medium next week and use the cake again. We'll see after that.